Close-up of Vecna in the Upside Down in Season 4 of Stranger Things.Image via Netflix
By
Hannah Hunt
Published 19 minutes ago
Back in 2021, Hannah’s love of all things nerdy collided with her passion for writing — and she hasn’t stopped since. She covers pop culture news, writes reviews, and conducts interviews on just about every kind of media imaginable. If she’s not talking about something spooky, she’s talking about gaming, and her favorite moments in anything she’s read, watched, or played are always the scariest ones. For Hannah, nothing beats the thrill of discovering what’s lurking in the shadows or waiting around the corner for its chance to go bump in the night. Once described as “strictly for the sickos,” she considers it the highest of compliments.
Sign in to your Collider account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recapMild spoilers for Stranger Things 5, Volume 1 below.Stranger Things has never hidden how deeply it pulls from classic genre cinema. The show built its identity on Steven Spielberg wonder, John Carpenter unease, and the glossy sincerity of the era that shaped it. For a long time, that approach to influence made it easy to treat the series as an affectionate scrapbook rather than a pointed reinterpretation of specific horror traditions. Season 5 changes that conversation entirely. The return of Vecna, both as the monstrous tyrant of the Upside Down and as the soft-spoken Henry who insinuates himself into Holly’s imagination, finally clarifies the inspiration that has been slowly forming in the background. Vecna is not a collage of eighties nightmares: he is a Clive Barker creation in everything but name, built on the aesthetics, philosophy, and vocal presence that defined Hellraiser’s iconic villain.
The Pinhead comparison has floated around fandom for years, but the final season makes it feel less like a theory and more like a blueprint. Vecna’s evolution from Henry Creel into a figure of ritualistic conviction mirrors the transformation that gave Hellraiser its lasting power. Both characters believe they are delivering a new kind of truth, both treat suffering as a form of revelation, and both are performed with a stillness that is far more frightening than any chase sequence. Season 5 turns that influence into the backbone of Vecna’s final chapter, and the result is a villain who feels more connected to Hellraiser than to any other text the show has ever referenced.
Jamie Campbell Bower Builds a Barker Monster from the Ground Up
Jamie Campbell Bower’s approach to Vecna has always been a study in discipline. Season 4 introduced the physical performance, the contortion, and the eerie calm that made the character feel distinct from the show’s other threats. Season 5 shows what that work was building toward. Bower has explained that when he first auditioned, the sides he received included a scene from the Hellraiser adaptation. That detail matters because it set the tone for how he imagined the character long before the Duffer Brothers revealed the full plan. It nudged him toward a monster who communicates through composure rather than chaos, and who treats violence as a form of ceremony.
The voice is the clearest proof. Vecna does not shout, rasp, or snarl. He speaks with a low, relaxed resonance that Bower developed by loosening rather than tightening his throat. Relaxation allows him to hit the deeper, colder notes that define the character. That technique mirrors Doug Bradley’s work as Pinhead, who became terrifying specifically because he never raised his voice. The performance relied on control, not aggression. Bower applies that same principle, which gives Vecna an unnerving steadiness even in moments of rage.
Season 5 extends that performance into the structure of the story itself. Henry appears to Holly as a gentle presence, a patient companion who makes himself indispensable before revealing what he wants. That slow emotional grooming feels closer to Barker than to the nightmare antics usually associated with the show’s other influences. Meanwhile, Vecna’s physical return at the end of Volume 1 frames him as a figure who has fully embraced ritual. He has regained his strength, he has sharpened his purpose, and he moves with the certainty of someone who believes he is fulfilling a sacred task.
Season 5 Leans into Ritualistic Horror Instead of Slasher Spectacle
Vecna has the upper hand on Will in Stranger Things 5Image via Netflix
For years, fans compared Vecna to Freddy Krueger because of the nightmares, the hallucinations, and the teen-centered kills. Season 5 reveals why that comparison never fully fit. Freddy is chaotic, theatrical, and rooted in dream logic. Vecna is built on intention. He does not appear out of nowhere. He arrives with the patience of someone who has already decided how the world should be reshaped. That sense of ideological purpose places him much closer to Pinhead, who became immortal through doctrine. Even the emotional core of his resentment echoes Barker’s themes. Horror in Hellraiser is always tied to longing, disappointment, and the human desire to find meaning in suffering. Vecna’s motivations have evolved into a twisted version of that same psychology. He believes the world has rejected him, and he believes he can correct it by reshaping reality into a reflection of his own internal logic. His cruelty comes from conviction.
This shift also reframes the Duffers’ approach to horror. Stranger Things has always balanced nostalgia with reinvention, but Vecna represents their most mature synthesis of influence. Instead of referencing eighties horror broadly, the show concentrates its energy into one lineage and lets it inform the character from performance to design to narrative purpose. The result is a villain who feels coherent in a way that the Mind Flayer and Demogorgon never fully achieved. Those monsters were threats, while Vecna is a full theology.
The Final Season Reveals the Truth That Was Hiding in Plain Sight
By the time Volume 1 ends, the connection is unavoidable. Stranger Things did not simply borrow a few visual cues or adopt a voice that sounded familiar. It built its final villain on the bones of Hellraiser’s most enduring ideas. Vecna is a believer who treats annihilation as transcendence. Season 5 finally allows that influence to eclipse the rest of his characterization, which gives the story a sense of purpose that the show has been chasing for years. Fans have always celebrated Stranger Things for its ability to channel the past. The final season proves that the show never needed the whole era, it only needed one horror icon to show it the way.
Stranger Things
Like TV-14 Drama Mystery Horror Science Fiction Release Date 2016 - 2025-00-00 Network Netflix Showrunner Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer Directors Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz Writers Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock
7 Images
Eleven looking into an opening of the Upside Down with pink light in Stranger Things season 1
Jim Hopper (David Harbour) grabbing Jonathan's (Charlie Heaton) shoulders in Stranger Things season 1©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
Eleven with cables all over her head in Stranger Things season 4
Vecna looking towards Will in the trailer for Stranger Things season 5 (2025)
Max and Eleven in Stranger ThingsNetflix
Stranger Things season 2, episode 2 "Trick or Treat, Freak".MovieStillsDB
The Upside Down in Stranger Things season 5Courtesy of Netflix Close
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